Selling on Amazon, it feels like finances are getting tighter all the time. There always seems to be a new area that requires your money, and it seems harder than ever to pull in a decent profit margin. One contentious area for merchants is using Amazon Inventory Placement Service (IPS), so RepricerExpress is going to take a deep look to see if it’s worth it to you or not.
Don’t Take any Shortcuts with Shipping
The most important thing after offering quality products and excellent customer support is being able to get said awesome items to your buyers lickety-split. It’s a constant battle to get that product ready to go and out the door, but rushing the process can mean you make mistakes and end up shooting yourself in the foot. The less happy your customers are with you, the less likely they are to give you a good review. And if that happens, then your chances of landing a Buy Box also go down.
Amazon Will Help Optimise Your Shipping Options
You probably have a good idea of which Amazon Fulfilment Centre is closest to you. But do you also know which distribution centres are closest to your customers? Well, with IPS, you don’t have to guess. IPS can help to greatly reduce the chances of human error by taking on that responsibility themselves.
Plus, they’ll charge you different fees based on the size of your item (i.e. oversized or standard-sized). These fees might make you swallow hard the first time you look at them, but take a closer inspection. If you’re selling a lot of high-margin items, then it’ll be pretty easy to absorb the cost. But if you’re selling products with a thinner profit margin, then it may not necessarily be the best option for you. Think of it as paying for peace of mind.
It Can be a Way to Have Your Items Received Faster
There’s a saying in army circles: hurry up and wait. You’ve got to hustle on your end to make that sale, and it can be frustrating to see less-than-optimal receiving time at an Amazon centre. With IPS, you can scope out which centres are speedy and which ones aren’t, and stick to the former. The faster your product can get checked in, the sooner it can get on its way.
You Can Add on to Existing Orders
If you typically receive most of your orders to get sent to the same Amazon centre you’re likely entering a different SKU each time. While this is exactly what you should be doing, it can slow you down. To Amazon, it looks like a bunch of small shipments that may or may not get put out together. However, with IPS, you can simply choose to add them to an existing order so they all get sent out at the same time, whether it’s to the same centre or different ones (as opposed to sending out each one individually, and possibly to different warehouses each time.)
But it’s also worth mentioning that using IPS does not guarantee all SKUs will get sent to the same warehouse. It simply guarantees that a particular SKU will make its way to an Amazon centre. This actually works in your favour, as Amazon prefers you to have your inventory spread out at different warehouses so there’s always available stock. And by having items available in your inventory, you can keep yourself in the running for a Buy Box — after all, how could you earn a Buy Box if that product isn’t available to buy?
